In my last two Insights in this series, I discussed how an employee’s belief system affects their work. I also detailed four steps an employer can take to utilize the affect a belief system has on employees.
For my final part in this series, I’d like to share an example of how to change a belief system. It really hits home with a lot of employers and companies, and is one of the strongest, most recurring belief systems that I’ve seen over the years.
No matter what industry, no matter what type of process you’re looking at, you’ll always have the belief system that comes up and says, “You know what, I don’t like change and the way that we’ve been doing it has worked fine up to this point. Why do we have to change it? If it’s not broken, why do we have to try to fix it?”
Anytime I deliver consulting services to a company, I always encounter belief systems that say, “What we’ve been doing so far works, don’t change it.” When the leadership team of a company has this belief system, it slowly infiltrates the culture of the company and, ultimately, impacts the employees.
So then what do you do?
First of all, introduce some new ideas into the scenario. What I’ve done as a consultant/manager is encouraged those that have worked for me and those I’ve consulted with to get input from everyone at every level of the organization.
A lot of times, companies will find solutions to problems from people who have been working at the company for many years. Unfortunately, the company never bothered to solicit input from employees.
You need to get input from those that work for you and you must look at what’s going on in your industry. Additionally, get input about the industry via a competitor or someone who knows the market extremely well.
Secondly, you need an outside catalyst to come in and help make the belief system transition. This means you should enlist a diagnostic exercise within your company, whether it’s by using a consultant or going through your Professional Employer Organization (PEO).
A consultant or your PEO can help you understand your company culture and introduce better processes, improved people management exercises and more positive behaviors that will help your company and potentially increase productivity
Once you’ve taken those steps, you need to look at what you’re implementing. Determine what’s working and what’s not working, then adjust as you go.
The most important thing to remember during this belief system change is remain flexible. You need to be willing to add things or change things as needed to achieve the desired result.
Once you’ve begun looking at what’s not working and making changes, then it’s time to offer coaching or transitional support. As you transition by introducing new ideas into your company, employees are going to have a difficult time adjusting to the changes. Especially if they’ve been doing their jobs the same way for five, 10, 15 or even 20 years.
The next step in the process involves going back and getting feedback. Not only getting feedback verbally from employees on how they’re dealing with some of the changes that have been introduced, but also looking at the quality and quantity of the work completed with the new processes you have implemented.
If they’re working great, that’s wonderful. If they’re not, you need to push for continuous improvement with additional adjustments.
The final step in the process of making the belief system change is crucial: Do not go back to the old way of doing things.
This is probably one of the toughest things for companies to understand, but once you’ve moved down a certain path and are heading in a certain direction, you have to stick with it.
Yes, you’re going to have growing pains. Yes, it’s going to be challenging, but you have to stay the course.
The potential results can be increased productivity and improved morale throughout the organization. Morale is one of those intangible things and companies that have good morale in their culture usually work better and are more profitable.
Another huge plus to making process improvements is cost reductions. Sometimes eliminating a step (or several steps) in a process or upgrading to new equipment will not only provide cost reductions, but will also help improve how quickly work gets done.
All employees have belief systems—that’s a given—but sometimes those beliefs need to be challenged and employees need to be coached to make the change. Ultimately, employers need to be flexible and continue to look for ways to increase productivity.